Yesterday Major League Baseball announced the pitchers and reserves who will be playing in July 9’s All-Star Game in Cleveland. The Cincinnati Reds’ lone selection is pitching ace Luis Castillo. Castillo is part of the “player-elected” batch of all-stars; others are voted on by fans.
After bouncing around in the San Francisco Giants and Miami Marlins organizations, Castillo came to the Reds in 2017 as part of a trade with the Marlins. Over the past three seasons, Castillo has worked his way to the top of the Reds’ starting rotation; he was the team’s starter on Opening Day this year.
In 17 starts this year, Castillo has a 2.47 ERA (sixth best in MLB) with 115 strikeouts.
Reds manager David Bell delivered the good news to Castillo after yesterday’s win over the Cubs, in front of the entire team in the Reds’ locker room.
Here is how Luis Castillo (and the rest of the guys) learned the good news before Sunday’s win.#LaPiedra ⭐ #BornToBaseball pic.twitter.com/NA2UPo14j6
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) June 30, 2019
There is an outside chance that fan favorite Derek Dietrich could get the call to participate in the Home Run Derby next week. Dietrich, a Cleveland native who in high school won a home run competition at Cleveland’s Progressive Field, has publicly expressed interest in competing, but there are only two spots left and Dietrich is not rumored to be in contention for either of them.
This article appears in Jun 26 – Jul 3, 2019.
